Monthly Archives: May 2024

Winlink Deep Dive – Advanced Topics – 9 MAY 2024

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We had another Winlink session this week, with a concentration on P2P with packet.  P2P is peer-to-peer, sending messages directly from one Winlink client (i.e. Winlink Express) to another without going through an RMS or the CMS.  Five people brought their equipment this week, and we successfully accomplished P2P message transfers between three of them.

Next month we'll be playing catch up, trying to get everyone up and running with working Winlink accounts, getting RF working, and getting P2P working with both packet and VARA FM.  If you're planning to attend the Advanced Topics class next month, please plan to bring your radio(s), computer or other computing device, and an interface if required (some radio/computer combinations do not require an interface device).  If you need help figuring out what you need, let Jan (KD7ZWV) know or use the Contact Us form.

Our ultimate goal is to be able to haul our gear out into the wild and pass messages with Winlink.  To that end, we want everyone comfortable with the following:

  • Winlink Account Creation
  • Telnet Connections
  • RF Connections to the CMS via an RMS
  • RF Connections P2P with packet
  • RF Connections (to RMS and P2P) with VARA
  • Using Winlink Forms

Being comfortable doesn't mean you are ready to teach someone how to do it, but it does mean that you're able to get your own setup working.  You're encouraged to practice using Winlink often, send messages to each other, take your setup apart and put it back together, and understand the Winlink concepts.  If there are any of these you're uncomfortable with, come to the meeting in June and ask!

Get On The AIR! – Getting Started with Amateur Radio Series – Basic Topics – 2 MAY 2024

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The fifth session of the Getting Started With Amateur Radio series, this session covers actually getting on the air... that includes things like finding frequencies, nets, repeaters, and other amateurs in your area, getting your radio set up, and the most dreaded first you will ever experience as an amateur radio operator:  pushing the PTT button for the first time!

Download the slides here:  Get On The AIR!

Or look at them right on the site below.

04_Get_on_the_AIR

Repeater Status – MARC Repeater is OFFLINE

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REPEATER UPDATE

As of Friday, 19 DEC 2024 at 1500 MST, the MARC repeater is BACK ONLINE.

Dan (N7XDL) completed the insulation in the window and has powered the repeater online again.  He also installed some recording thermometers (courtesy of Justin, [KK7VBL]) so we can track the temperature over time.

Many thanks to all those who helped with the new feed line install and especially Dan for his hard work to get the repeater back up.

Future Sunday nets will again be held on the club repeater, starting this Sunday!

PREVIOUS UPDATE

Murray City is still trying to find a suitable contractor to perform the tower work.  Sammie (NA7EGC) has offered the use of one of his repeaters on Ensign Peak for the interim period.  This repeater is at 224.080 MHz, negative 1.6 MHz offset, and tone of 136.5 Hz.  As this is a new repeater, it is not currently included in any standard load files.  If you need help programming this repeater into your radio(s), please bring your radio(s) to a club meeting and someone will help you.  We will be using this repeater for Sunday nets moving forward until our club repeater is back in operation.

PREVIOUS UPDATE

We have been advised that the tower contractor is unable to perform the work this week, so the repeater will NOT be back on line this Thursday as planned.  Please do NOT come to the tower site at 8:00 AM on Thursday 25 JUL 2024 or you will be lonely.

We will advise when we have more information.

PREVIOUS UPDATE

Thursday, 25 JUL 2024, at 8:00 AM any member of MARC who is available is requested to meet at the repeater site to assist with the installation of the new heliax feed line to the antenna.  Murray City and the Murray FD have purchased sufficient foam core heliax cable to go from the shack to the antenna and have contracted an installer to climb the tower, install the new cable, and adjust/tune the antenna in situ.  If you are available to help that day, please come to the tower site at 8:00 AM.  Bring a hard hat if you have one and you'll probably want gloves as well.

Expectations are that the repeater will be back on line later that day!

ORIGINAL MESSAGE FOLLOWS

Until further notice, the MARC repeater (223.960 MHz, standard load channel 27) is OFFLINE.

A few weeks ago, the repeater failed with a "PA FAIL" indicator.  At the time, we were able to bring the repeater back online, but a week later it failed again in the same way.  MARC members pulled the repeater from the rack and had it examined by a local repeater tech, who identified a blown cap in the finals.  The cap was replaced and the repeater is once again functional... HOWEVER:

When reinstalling the repeater, some additional testing on the feedline and antenna configuration took place.  You may recall that when the repeater was initially installed, we had a length of Heliax cable donated to the club, but the cable was not long enough to reach all the way from the antenna to the repeater.  The final 70 feet or so was bridged with LMR-400 cable.  Analysis of the installation showed that the feedline and antenna is presenting an SWR of 1.6:1.  With the repeater pushing 35W of power up the cable, this results in a reflection of about 4W of power back into the repeater's output finals.

While many repeaters would be able to handle this, the Quantar repeater we have appears to be extra sensitive to this type of SWR condition.  We need to replace the coax with a continuous length of Heliax cable and retune the antenna in situ (on the tower).  We have chosen to make plans to do this BEFORE putting the repeater back online.

We have identified a source for the cable we need, but it is quite expensive.  In addition, installation of the new cable will require someone climbing the tower, and Murray City (the owners of the tower) require that this be done by a professional tower crew for insurance purposes.  We have brought the requirements and numbers to our contact with the fire department and the city is currently working on providing the funds required.  Unfortunately, this may need to wait for the next budget year (which starts in June).

For now, we will continue using the 223.440 simplex frequency (standard load channel 29) for our Sunday evening nets, and we are also exploring other options for temporary use.  Stay tuned to this post for more details as they become available.